Former Waterbury Resident Pleads Guilty to Violating Federal Sex Offender Registration Law

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that BYRON ELLIOTT VAUGHN, 32, of Waterbury, pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

According to court documents and statements made in court, in July 2009, VAUGHN was convicted in the Commonwealth of Virginia of rape.  He was sentenced to 10 years of incarceration, suspended after serving two years, and 15 years of probation.  VAUGHN also was ordered to comply with lifetime sex offender registration requirements.

VAUGHN was released from prison in November 2009, registered as a sex offender in Virginia and verified his registration as required through 2012.

In 2015, VAUGHN failed to update his sexual offender registration in Virginia, failed to advise Virginia of his change of residence to Connecticut, and failed to register in Connecticut as a sex offender when he moved to Connecticut and applied for employment in Waterbury in November 2016.  VAUGHN worked a hospital in Waterbury until he was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service on August 9, 2017, on a violation of probation warrant that was issued in Virginia in December 2015.

VAUGHN has been detained since his arrest.  Judge Underhill scheduled sentencing for September 12, 2018, at which time he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

VAUGHN was convicted in Virginia of the probation violation and was sentenced to 77 months of imprisonment suspended after 60 months. 

This matter is being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Slater.